


Best to Share With a Friend

by saltylikecrait



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Popcorn, Remembrance, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltylikecrait/pseuds/saltylikecrait
Summary: Vi remembers a fallen comrade.
Relationships: Archex & Vi Moradi, Cardinal & Vi Moradi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 9





	Best to Share With a Friend

She finished up another hard day of work for Savi as one of his Gatherers. It wasn’t that she needed to continue the job, as being the leader of the Batuuan Resistance base took up a lot of her energy, but she enjoyed the company of everyone she worked with. They were a nice group of coworkers, friendly, trustworthy. Quickly, Vi began to think of them as a second family.

Like many days after work, she searched around the bustling market for a place to eat. However, without her coworkers calling the shots, she was left to her own devices to choose. There were so many options in Black Spire Outpost, she didn’t know where to start. The smells of the stalls wafted through her nostrils, enticing her with the warm scents of cooked meat from Ronto Roasters and the old docking bay.

The _popping_ sound against metal caught her attention. She almost forgot Kat Saka’s kettle was in this part of town.

It wasn’t exactly a meal, but Outpost Mix was a wonderful treat. She could afford to skip a healthy meal once in a while.

"Bright suns!" Vi greeted as she ordered a bag of the treat, dusted with red, pink, and purple powder for flavor and color. She was always told artificial coloring on food was a questionable addition, but right now, she didn’t care about the luxuries of being able to afford to be picky. There were days when her stomach growled and she was transported back to the days after the Battle of Crait, when the Resistance was short on food and days without eating were common. Those memories reminded her how lucky she was to run a base on a world like Batuu, where no one was worried about running out of food.

She sat down on a low duracrete wall by the stand and popped a handful into her mouth. The treat almost melted in her mouth, salty and sweet dancing on her taste buds in harmonious unison. Vi smiled with the first bite.

Staring at nothing in particular, she noticed smaller details of the marketplace she hadn’t before. Amateur graffiti artists left their marks in simple designs and single colors, expressing their support for the Resistance or their wish for Black Spire to go back to its neutral roots. Oga certainly kept that stance, though she had no problem profiting off either side. 

A sign next to the kettle stand caught her eye. Vi hadn’t noticed that before either. 

_Perfect for sharing with a friend,_ the sign read against the dirty beige stone.

Looking down at the bag in her hands, she agreed it would be a fun treat to share. Too bad Rey and Chewbacca had already fled the outpost, the mission with Green Squadron and a handful of new recruits going awry from the start and forcing the ex-stormtrooper Finn out of his own undercover mission on a First Order Star Destroyer. If they were still here, she would have all bought them bags of popcorn to share.

Days like these, Vi often wondered what life would be like for her after the First Order fell. Sometimes, news of missions gave her a sense of finality, like the end of the conflict was growing closer. She wasn’t sure if she was right, but sometimes, her intuition was correct about these things. Savi would tell her it was because the Force liked her, even if she wasn't a Jedi like Rey. Vi wasn't sure what she believed in, but she saw the amazing things Rey and Kylo Ren could do and knew there was more to the Force than she thought she could ever understand.

The first thing she wanted to do when she was no longer needed was visit her brother. The second was to find a better wig or a hair stylist that could work with her growing hair. No longer cropped to the base of her skull, Vi was growing annoyed by the hair net she placed on her head every morning to keep her natural hair from sticking out from under her wig. Her natural color was also showing from the fading bleach job she did months before. 

Even if victory was there’s – and she had total faith it would be – it would always be bittersweet. So many had fallen for the cause and their sacrifices would always be remembered.

She imagined such a comrade beside her now. A man with blue-black hair and a history he’d rather not be remembered for. One that did her wrong and wanted so desperately for her to forgive him.

_“Caf’s still as weak as a newborn bantha,”_ he would complain if he were here, _“but this stuff’s not bad. Anything’s better than the paste we got each dinner back in the Order.”_ She knew he would reach in the bag for more.

Her hands twitched slightly against loose kernels, reminding her she no longer had feeling in some of her fingers thanks to his botched torture job. 

“Quit complaining,” she would say to him. “I’m feeding you, right?”

_“Like you’d let anyone starve,”_ he would laugh. _“Mother Hen.”_ He would say this fondly, using the nickname the recruits called her when they thought she wasn’t listening.

At times, she struggled to think of Cardinal and Archex as the same person, but despite all her wishing, the reality was, they were. The man in the scarlet stormtrooper gear haunted her nightmares. The one underneath the armor had been a friend. Even if Leia said everyone deserved a shot at redemption, Vi wasn’t sure she completely could forgive Cardinal for the trauma he induced. 

Or maybe this was a case of _forgive but never forget._ He really regretted what he’d done, and though she wasn’t sure if he ever thought himself as officially part of the Resistance, all the work he put into their base showed his sincerity of seeking a purpose, seeking her approval. Archex did everything he could think of to try to make it up to her. He made lots of mistakes doing so – she certainly didn’t appreciate the kiss he planted on her, even if she tried to wave it off – but every act showed the person who had been underneath the armor the whole time. It must have been hard to realize you wasted twenty years of your life serving the wrong people and she couldn’t blame the starving fifteen-year-old he had been for joining them in the first place.

Vi often felt a sense of loss when she thought about what Archex could have been had he not gotten mixed up with the First Order. He was a loyal soldier, took every cause he stood for to heart, even if he regretted it later. If Rey could be such a loving and strong woman despite the years she spent on Jakku, surely the same could be said about him? 

_Complex_ probably was the best way to describe their relationship and Vi knew even decades from now, assuming she survived, she still would never quite understand him.

If she couldn’t share a bag of popcorn with a friend, the next best thing was to share with the memory of one.

**Author's Note:**

> There's not enough love for Vi Moradi on this site.
> 
> I just returned from my trip to Batuu and had a blast. Since it is National Popcorn Day, I thought the two went together perfectly.


End file.
